Resources in Operational Excellence (OPEX)

Our focus on Operational Excellence (OE) is on the alignment of strategies, processes, performers, measures, technologies and management to achieve and sustain outstanding levels of performance of the entire enterprise.

Our belief is that Operational Excellence is achievable only when an organization has defined the major elements that affect performance and aligned them (which often means redesigning them) to support strategies and goals.

Just as often the task of alignment also means ridding the organization of things (practices, policies, organization structures) that impede Operational Excellence.

Displaying 141 - 150 of 263 resources matching your criteria.

Can Six Sigma and Business Process Management Coexist?

Why are Business Process Management and Six Sigma needed in today’s business environment?

Case Study: Metric Development

Pinnacle West Capital Corporation is a public company that provides electrical power to over 1,000,000 customers in the Southwest United States. It took over 100 years to obtain that many customers. The next 1,000,000 customers will be added during the next 10 years. The Center for Process Excellence was formed over two years ago to integrate Continuous Improvement into the various business units of the company. In this case study, we will explain how Metrics are developed and put in place within the organization.

Rapid BPM-Based SOA: The Recipe, and Results

Integration of Framework-Based BPM techniques into an IT organization results in very rapid and precise development of IT architectures, using predefined process categories, and metrics. This presentation reviews how SCOR was used in a $80B high-tech merger to define the future-state SOA, and what were the 2-3 year outcomes. A ‘recipe’ is presented for how to accomplish SOA using the framework based approach in multiple business domains.

Aligning Organizational Performance

By: Alan Ramias, Partner - Performance Design Lab

Alan Ramias is a Partner of the Performance Design Lab (PDL). He has had 25 years of experience in performance improvement and organization effectiveness.

Alan Ramias is a Partner of the Performance Design Lab (PDL). He has had 25 years of experience in performance improvement and organization effectiveness. Alan joined The Rummler-Brache Group in 1991 and led major successful performance improvement engagements within Fortune 500 companies. Upon leaving RBG, Alan founded his own consulting company, where he continues to practice in the field of performance consulting. He is also involved in several organizational restructuring initiatives in the U.S. and Asia.

Ramias maintains that achieving organizational results depends on two things: measuring the right processes for performance feedback, and managers knowing what to do with the feedback they receive.

Can Six Sigma and Business Process Management Co-Exist?

Contributed by:Marvin Wurtzel, Faculty Member, BPMInstitute.org and Principal Consultant, Marvin M. Wurtzel & Associates, Inc.

By: Marvin Wurtzel, President, Marvin M. Wurtzel & Associates

One of the most powerful ways to improve business performance is combining business process management (BPM) strategies with Six Sigma strategies. BPM strategies emphasize process improvements and automation to drive performance, while Six Sigma uses statistical analysis to drive quality improvements. The two strategies are not mutually exclusive, however, and some savvy companies have discovered that combining BPM and Six Sigma can create dramatic results.

Where It Begins: The Super-System View

By: Alan Ramias, Managing Partner, Performance Design Lab

In a bulletin last year I wrote about the value of defining an organization’s processes by using a Processing System Hierarchy (Figure 1), which identifies and links “levels” of process, starting with the external environment and then cascading down through the organization’s value chain, primary processing systems, key processes and sub-processes, and finally down to individual performers. In this article I am focusing where the Hierarchy starts.

At this topmost level is what we at the Performance Design Lab (PDL) call the “Super System” view.

The Eight Wastes in a Process

Contributed by:Daniel Madison, Principal, Value Creation Partners

By: Daniel J. Madison, Author of "Process Mapping, Process Improvement, and Process Management" and Owner, Value Creation Partners

Taiichi Ohno, a major contributor to the Toyota Production System, identified seven wastes that can exist in processes. Jeffery Liker, a professor at the University of Michigan added an eighth. If the wastes are removed or reduced, significant benefits can be realized. These benefits are:

Dramatically lower costs
Much faster processes
Exceeding high quality
Less frustrated workers
Happier customers

As each of the wastes are explained, look for examples in your own organization.

Where Have All the Leaders Gone? The Long-Lost Executive Process Improvement Project

By: Alan Ramias, Partner, Performance Design Lab

Look at any book on business process management or improvement these days and you'll see a good amount of advice being expended on the creating, chartering, nurturing and managing of process design, or improvement, teams. Typically, these are made up of employees who perform the processes being improved along with a gaggle of supporters, technical experts, and the like.

Case Study: Applying Process Design Principles

Contributed by:Daniel Madison, Principal, Value Creation Partners

By: Daniel J. Madison, owner, Value Creation Partners

Dan Madison is a principal in Value Creation Partners. He facilitates process improvement using lean, six sigma, reengineering, and continuous improvement techniques. Dan is the author of Process Mapping, Process Improvement, and Process Management.

Dan Madison has studied what a business process should look like for fifteen years. He studied what major corporations did in process improvement that made them successful and distilled his findings into design principles that anyone can use. He has come up with 38 design principles that apply to all business processes.

Creating a Customer Focused - Process Enabled Enterprise By Applying Business Process Management and Six Sigma Together

Contributed by:Marvin Wurtzel, Faculty Member, BPMInstitute.org and Principal Consultant, Marvin M. Wurtzel & Associates, Inc.

By: Marvin M. Wurtzel, Wurtzel & Associates

Creating a Customer focused – Process Enabled Enterprise requires a business process framework, established enterprise architecture, creating "real-time" business intelligence, and a link between continuous improvement projects and key business processes. Most businesses need to evolve from a bottoms-up Six Sigma (DMAIC) approach, to a strategic framework that will set the foundation for growth, accountability, and performance management.